This invention relates generally to surgically implantable valves, and more particularly, to improvements in one-way flow control valves for controlling the flow of cerebrospinal fluid out of a brain ventricle and preventing backflow of fluid into the brain ventricle.
As is well known in the medical arts, to relieve undesirable accumulation of fluids, it is frequently necessary to provide a means for draining a fluid from one part of the human body to another in a controlled manner. This is required, for example, in the treatment of hydrocephalus, an ailment, usually afflicting infants or children, in which fluids which ought to drain away accumulate within the skull and thereby exert extreme pressure and skull deforming forces.
In treating hydrocephalus, cerebrospinal fluid accumulated in the brain ventricles is drained away by a catheter inserted into the ventricle through the skull, and the catheter is connected to a tube which conducts the fluid away from the brain to be reintroduced into the vascular system, as by extending through the patient's jugular vein to the atrium portion of the heart. To control the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and maintain the proper pressure in the brain ventricle, a pump or valve is placed in the conduit between the brain and the heart atrium.
Many such devices have been used heretofore, but prior devices have tended to become obstructed by particulate matter entering the drainage system or by the backward diffusion of blood into the system. Further, some prior devices have included moving parts which tend to share to adhere to other parts of the device and become immobile. When this occurs, the device itself becomes a barrier in the drainage system, and it adds to the problem it is intended to solve. Moreover, some prior devices have included metal components which tended to interfere with X-ray photography, and X-ray photography frequently accompanies the use of surgically implanted flow control valves.
Accordingly, there has been a long existing need in the medical arts for a convenient and effective device for controlling the flow of fluid from one part of the human body to another, which device is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and which is constructed of non-metallic parts which are not subject to adhering to one another and causing malfunction of the device. All will become apparent from the following description, the present invention satisfies these needs and provides other related advantages.